House party at Tony's tomorrow - and you're invited!
FANCY going to a rave this Saturday?
Then get your glow-sticks at the ready because there’s a new DJ in town — and he’s already caused the council a headache!
At 58 years old, safety equipment manager and fundraiser Tony Potts didn’t think he’d be the sort to be upsetting the neighbours, but his charity lockdown DJ sets are proving popular.
Tony only began DJing last year by chance after agreeing to spin some tunes at a friend’s 60th party and is now in demand.
He decided to use his new skills as a way to continue raising money for Rotherham Hospice, which he and wife Gill have done in memory of her mum Joyce Paine.
Tony said: “Joyce started fundraising in 1987 after she responded to an article in the Advertiser asking for people who might be interested in helping to start fundraising to try and get a hospice built in Rotherham.”
After Joyce died in the hospice in 2018 after decades of fundraising, Tony and Gill vowed to keep raising money.
Now all the fees from Tony’s bookings under his DJ guise 54 Beats, go to Rotherham Hospice. The 54 is a reference to his former American football shirt number.
But after all his party bookings were cancelled due to the pandemic, he brought the party to his Maltby living room where he has been live streaming sets across the world every Saturday at 7pm.
Followers can request songs and Gill helps to live chat with the ravers. It’s free to join in via the app Twitch but many fans have been donating and more than £300 has been raised.
“It’s been fantastic,” he said. “We’ve had people join in from Qatar, Spain, Canada
“We wanted to cheer people up while in lockdown.”
And Tony isn’t the only DJ in the family.
“My son Lewis (29) played Parklife festival in Manchester under the name Pottymouth,” said Tony.
“He used to play dub step and hard drum and bass
“He’s DJ’d in Australia and all over the place, he’s been doing it since he was 15.”
The father and son are going to go head to head by both coming up with a one-hour mix of nu-disco — old disco classics with a modern dance beat.
And it was while Tony was practising for the mix that he landed himself in hot water with the council.
“I was in the garden last Wednesday lunchtime working on a mix because Gill was inside doing zumba,” said Tony.
“Then on Saturday I got an official noise letter from the council — I’m 58, I’m not the sort of person who wants to go upsetting the neighbours, if someone had popped their head over the fence I would have turned it down.”
After years of telling his son off as a teenager for his music and parties, Lewis thinks its “hilarious” that it’s his dad who has been reprimanded.
Join his next party on Saturday, search 54 Beats on Twitch.